Billfold, pocket secretary, and the like



March 26, 19460 p. L OGDEN BILLFOLD, POCKET SECRETARY, AND THE LIKE Filed April 19, 1944 INVENTOR: PflL L L. 0GDEN- Patented Mar. 26, 1946 BILLFOLD, POCKET SECRETARY, AND THE LIKE Paul L. Ogden, New York, N. Y.

Application April 19, 1944, Serial No. 531,732

1 Claim.

This invention relates to billfolds, pocket secretaries and the like, and provides improvements therein.

The invention i a billfold, pocket secretary, and the like, having a plurality of pockets for paper money (bills), letters, documents, memoranda, and the like, providing exceptional accessibility to the contents and security against accidental loss of the contents when opening the same and inserting and extracting contents.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of the article viewed from the inside;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view looking from above at an angle of about 45 and showing the exceptional accessibility to the pockets provided by the construction;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 33, Fig. l.

The invention may receive other embodiments than that specifically illustrated and described;

Referring to said drawing, numeral Ii) designates the outer side or cover, and numerals H, 12 and IS, a plurality of leaves, which, together with the cover H), constitute a plurality of pockets l5, l6, H, for bills, letters, etc. A greater or less number of leaves may be used. The cover and leaves may be made of any suitable material, as leather, leather substitutes, silk, or cotton fabric, etc., and the cover, on the inside, and the leaves may be lined in a way similar to many styles of billfolds and pocket-books now made.

The leave II, I2, l3, are fastened to the cover I along a short edge or side 20 and a long edge or side 2!, by stitches of thread, as shown, or in any other suitable manner.

The leaves H, l2, Iilmay be of successively smaller area than that of cover In, substantially as illustrated, and the free edges at the sides 22 and 23 are successively spaced inward from the corresponding edges of cover Ill, which arrangement facilitates access to the individual pockets.

Secured to the cover Ill at side 23 is a tongue or strap 25, the tongue being attached by stitches of thread 26, or by other suitable means. The tongue 25 extends over the free edges of the leaves ll, l2, I3, at side 23. The tongue is attached to the leaf I3 by a suitable keeper 2'! in such manner that the tongue is capable of a limited amount of lengthwise movement with relation to the leaf. The keeper 2! may be, as shown, a, loop extending across the tongue and attached to the leaf is, and between which and the leaf the tongue 25 can slide. In the form shown, the tongue is provided with ears or enlargements 30 which act to prevent the tongue being pulled out from the keeper or loop 2'i. The part of the tongue on which the ears 30 are provided extends inwardly somewhat beyond strap 21 when the leaves and the contents of the pockets lie close together. When one or more of the leaves ll, l2, I3, is spread from the cover IE), or from theother leaves, the tongue slides in the loop 21 until stopped by the enlargements 30 on the tongue, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The tongue enables the leaves to be widely separated at the top and free side, one from another, or from the cover [0, and also confines the contents of the pockets at the free side of the leaves, and prevents them from falling out when the contents are being examined Or some of the contents being removed. As contents, at times, are unnoticed when they fall out, loss is prevented, and this is of much importance with an article such as a billfold.

Supplementary pockets 33, 34, for cards or the like, may be provided on the inside leaf iii in a variety of types.

To extract (or insert) a bill, letter, or the like, from the billfold, the leaf at the front of the pocket containing the bill to be removed (leaf ll,

Fig. 2, for example) is pulled away from the leaf or cover behind it, and the pocket between the leaf and the cover, or between two leaves, opens widely throughout the greater part of the length of the pocket, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This wide separation is effected by'reason of the freedom or the leaves at the longitudinal side 22 and the right-hand side 23, and the slidability of the tongue 25 in loop 21, which slidability is limited by the enlargements 30 on the tongue. The tongue 25 extending across the open ends of the opened pockets, as well as across the ends of the unopened pockets, prevent normal contents from falling out and being lost. The wide opening of the pockets afforded by the construction enables the contents of an open pocket to be readily examined and a desired bill or the like to be readily removed or inserted. The security afforded by the tongue 25 and its keeper i obtained with a minimum of increase of bulk of the billfold.

What is claimed is: r

A billfold type article comprising a cover and a plurality of leaves, means fastening said cover and leaves together along two adjacent edges 1eaving the other adjacent edges of the cover and leaves free, the cover and leaves providing a plurality of pockets for bills and the like each pocket having two of its sides open, a tongue attached to the cover at one of said free edges and cooperating with a keeper attached to the correspond arated from the cover, or from another leaf, and a pocket opened widely for ready accessibility in examining, removing and inserting contents, and also such that security against loss of contents of an opened pocket is provided by the said tongue at the side of the pocket across which aid tongue extends.

PAUL L. OGDEN. 

